Back to PD stories....My husband's company is interviewing for Sr. and Jr. developers.

Per company policy, all interviewees take a quick test. It's like 5 questions and the company likes to look at the answers to see their thought process. Pretty standard. This might be SS, but putting it here because it was more PD.

Back to PD stories....My husband's company is interviewing for Sr. and Jr. developers.

Per company policy, all interviewees take a quick test. It's like 5 questions and the company likes to look at the answers to see their thought process. Pretty standard. This might be SS, but putting it here because it was more PD.

Seems to me that Grancalla thinks she/he is better than us. If the OP had been even remotely interested in other opinions I would have pointed out that Miss Manners objects to the practice the OP was so adamant about, but why waste my time?

ET to fix my first sentence that made no sense.

« Last Edit: June 13, 2013, 10:28:33 PM by cass2591 »

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There is no pie in Nighthawks, which is why it's such a desolate image. ~ Happy Stomach

I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened. ~ Mark Twain

Adopting a pet won't change the world, but it will change the world for that pet.

My newest coworker may be trying for PD after only a few weeks on a job. While some of the mistakes he has been making are of the "well, he's new, needs a little more training," variety, some of them are definitely not.

1) We support a couple different "classes" of users. One group are more or less customers, the other are the other employees of the organization. The customer group is much, much, much bigger, and their files have a more restricted access level than those of employees. Sometimes the users need to update certain information on their account using human intervention. Human resources performs this service for current and former employees. Another office performs it for current and former customers. My new coworker has apparently been directing the customers to HR to have this task performed. I'm not sure if he just doesn't understand what human resources actually does - I don't think he's ever worked somewhere with an HR department before. He has made a few other "What planet are you from that you thought that was correct?" errors, but that was the most egregious.

2) He has been hanging up on people and otherwise being a bit rude and unprofessional. We are required to write our outgoing emails in a professional manner and his were riddled with errors and poor grammar and slang. He has also evidently been handling some incoming "calls" on our chat service by just telling the users to call in by phone and then closing out the chat, instead of helping them with their issue (the chat service is actually really great when you need to consult on things while you're in training, because the user can't hear you talking and expects some delays!) or explaining why we needed to actually speak with the person to provide the help that they wanted.

3) He has completely failed to respond to some messages sent by customers that he indicated that he was handling - we mark incoming messages and pull them into our own inboxes which are still visible to the rest of the reps, and several messages that required a response of some kind never got one.

I did bring the matter to the attention of the supervisors couched as "He needs more training" because he did, indeed, apparently not get a bit of the training that I was provided, and I hope he shapes up, because we're dragging enough dead weight as it is and my supervisors are sadly unlikely to fire him because they hate the hiring process.

I'm currently in a rather intense back-to-work post-injury rehab programme. We're assigned a care team who check up on us regularly to ensure we're actually making an effort to rehabilitate well enough to get back to work. If we are kicked out of the programme, we may not have work to return to.

Well, it was interesting to see one of the fellows get kicked out this week. For pulling out an exercise mat and using it to nap on. On the floor. Of the gym. In front of the entire team of physios, OTs, MDs and kinestheologists.

Back to PD stories....My husband's company is interviewing for Sr. and Jr. developers.

Per company policy, all interviewees take a quick test. It's like 5 questions and the company likes to look at the answers to see their thought process. Pretty standard. This might be SS, but putting it here because it was more PD.

Someone needs to write a book filled with stories and title it: How not to get a job. This story should be in there.

I was asked to sit in as a technical consultant on an interview for a new developer at my company. The candidate had come from a teaching job. We asked him to draw a certain type of technical diagram that would describe how an ATM machine works (just to see if he can conceptualise processes). He proceeded to not actually draw the diagram of the ATM, but rather to lecture us as to how that particular type of technical diagram should be drawn (in a general sense).

It's like if we had asked him to draw two stick figures passing a ball from one to the other, and he proceeded to lecture us as to how a circle is used to represent the head and the ball and depending on vertical placement relative to the body how we can tell the difference between the two, and how you use lines for the body and arms, but without at any point drawing us anything involving two stick figures or a ball.

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It's best to love your family as you would a Siberian Tiger - from a distance, preferably separated by bars . -- Pearls Before Swine (16-May-2009)

I don't know if this is considered special snowflake or professional darwinism. Either way, if you lie to immigration about your WW II activities, it probably isn't smart to write a Ukrainian-language memoir about it in 1995

WolfWay's post reminded me of a co-worker I used to have. He was a new programmer and had been asked to make a very simple change to a program - basically, it was "See that report title? Substitute the word "Plan" for the existing word "Project."" It should have taken him a day, tops, even considering his lack of experience. When he still wasn't done three days later, his supervisor approached him. New Guy proudly showed her a five-page document he'd created detailing how the program he was supposed to be fixing could be written in a much more efficient manner. When she said "Um, that's great, but that wasn't what I asked you to do," he got very huffy.

The two that I mentioned, parents of my kids' friends, introduced themselves as parents, in a parental casual setting, not as educated doctorate holders.

It would be odd to call someone "Dr. Xyz" while they were in a swimsuit while holding a drink with a paper umbrella.

btw, my brother IS a medical doctor, but to me he is still a bratty little brother who happened to marry a very nice girl. He does not advertise his status in casual conversation because then he gets inundated with "my blank hurts/what otc med do you prefer for y/can I get a referral for Z/etc..."

Honestly, his favorite title is Daddy. And he is a very good one!

But I don't think it's bragging in that social situation if somebody asks you what you do and you say "Doctor" or "professor" or "scientist."

Wearing a swimsuit and holding a drink with a paper umbrella calls for an introduction of 'Jim Smith'. If the conversation goes further, it's perfectly fine for Jim to mention that he's a gastroenterologist or a Professor at X Universiy.

In our experience, immediately letting it be known that you're a Doctor or a PhD in a relaxed social setting seems to expect a bit of forelock-tugging from lesser mortals. It's unnecessary, it's pretentious and it puts a damper on the possible fun of getting to know Jim.

Or if we are having a parent meeting at school for organizing a class event, and one parent pops in with, "I cannot do the petting zoo because my doctor hands are too delicate and anyway, I can't do it that day because I have to perform a surgery scheduled for that time!" instead of, "ok, Jane will take face painting, and Bob will take ball toss. Now let's talk about snack ideas."

Tossing in a title just for the purpose of what most would read as pompousness is annoying. I would much rather work a school event with "Christie, John's mom who is making gluten free brownies and likes horses, so much more than working with Doctor Jones who will correct every group rotation that stops by the sack races.

"Hi, Susie's mom!""Actually, it is Dr. Jones.""oh, can I just take my turn now?"

when I work at a school, in front of the students we call each other Mrs. Brown, Miss Smith, Dr. Jones. When it is alone in the teacher workroom or after school, we are Janice, Blythe, and Robert. If Robert insisted we call him Dr. Jones, we would not be offering to share workroom treats with him so much, because friends tend to call each other by first names, not titles.

A title is a sign of respect, and keeps a professional distance. if someone insists on tossing up that barrier, in non-professional settings, so be it. (pool parties, grocery store, school kid event, walking the dog) But understand that (general) you may be missing out on some great potential friendships and learning opportunities.

Speaking of schools, there may be a newish teacher slowly walking a path of PD--

she comes in late daily, and the other teachers notice. She tends to leave early, also. She does not attend special events, even though she has been asked to. All teachers share space, yet she has demanded that her room be kept empty even after school when co-curricular events and tutoring occur all over campus. she has had other teachers change their schedules to accommodate her. her clothing is a bit 'sexy' in nature, at this conservative school. her workload has been cut a fair bit, but she still appears very stressed. She was chosen as a darling candidate for this position, so it may still take a while for her PD steps to be fully recognized.

An amusing and practical exception to that: my aunt L has a doctorate in biology and taught college biology for many years. When my grandmother was quite old and in the hospital, that aunt (rather than my mother or other aunt) was Speaker to the Hospital as much as possible, and she would always introduce herself as "Dr. B" rather than "Ms. B." It got more respect and more detailed medical information. This worked because her degree is in biology (rather than chemistry or ancient history), so she understood the details and could and did ask appropriate questions. (My mother could, in theory, have insisted on being "Dr R" even though she doesn't have a doctorate, but the same information phrased the same way would not have been useful to her.)

When my cousin's husband was in the ICU, his mother tried to pull that stunt because she has a PhD. In education. Which I fully respect but when your son is in the ICU & none of the very smart MDs at a major research hospital known for their skill at fixing people can figure out what is wrong with him that is not the time to insist all the doctors & nurses call you Dr. X. There are more important things to worry about.

I witnessed my brother play the doctor card once, at a hospital where he did not have privileges since it was another state!

Our other brother had a newborn baby that needed to be transferred to a specialized hospital, but the small hospital was dragging its feet, not so concerned since they believed the baby was dying, what was the point? (they were not even making sure NICU visitors were gloved or scrubbed or masked)

DB, the medical doctor, called somewhere and said, "This is Doctor Brother, and I need status NOW on baby xyz..." and he got answers about the transfer quicker than the parents or the charge nurse.

And that baby is now in grade school, after a few successful surgeries and in-home care.

Mom still will brag that DB saved other brother's child's life.

(It was just a phone call, but playing the doctor card DID light a fire)

I did ask him later, "wouldn't the person on the other end of the phone recognize that you and the baby had the same (slightly unusual) last name?"

And he said that if you speak with the right tone and ask the correct questions, the answers usually come forth. He said they are used to hearing, "This is Doctor Whatever, get me whatever" so he tried it at this hospital and it worked!

Way back, when I was a sales rep., we had a golf tournament (how cliché is that?) and the big boss was there, along with customers, other sales reps, suppliers, etc.

Once dinner was over and prizes distributed, everyone started to leave. One of the sales rep got to his car and drove over the grass median of the parking lot. We heard the "clank" of abused undercarriage. He rolled down his window and yelled "It's OK, it's a company car!". Big boss replied "Not anymore!" The guy did not last long after that.

I witnessed my brother play the doctor card once, at a hospital where he did not have privileges since it was another state!

Our other brother had a newborn baby that needed to be transferred to a specialized hospital, but the small hospital was dragging its feet, not so concerned since they believed the baby was dying, what was the point? (they were not even making sure NICU visitors were gloved or scrubbed or masked)

DB, the medical doctor, called somewhere and said, "This is Doctor Brother, and I need status NOW on baby xyz..." and he got answers about the transfer quicker than the parents or the charge nurse.

And that baby is now in grade school, after a few successful surgeries and in-home care.

Mom still will brag that DB saved other brother's child's life.

(It was just a phone call, but playing the doctor card DID light a fire)

I did ask him later, "wouldn't the person on the other end of the phone recognize that you and the baby had the same (slightly unusual) last name?"

And he said that if you speak with the right tone and ask the correct questions, the answers usually come forth. He said they are used to hearing, "This is Doctor Whatever, get me whatever" so he tried it at this hospital and it worked!

That's called a Bavarian Fire Drill and its surprising how it works sometimes.